Canning homemade applesauce

I love summer so much because of the happiness that I get from my garden, swimming in the pool, and feeling the sunshine. But the thing that makes the transition from summer to fall easier for me is apples! There’s just something beautiful about rows upon rows of apple trees and the simplicity of a delicious apple that makes me start to look forward to fall!

I started making my own applesauce about 6 years ago, and I used a crock pot to cook the applesauce for hours and hours. Since getting my Instant Pot a few years ago, the process is SO much easier! Here is how I make and can applesauce for my family.

First, I get “juice apples” from a local orchard. They are priced cheaper because they may have some bumps or bruises or may not be as pretty as the other apples. But I can get a bushel of them for $12, and that bushel usually makes me about 15 quarts of applesauce. Today, I picked up 2 bushels. They usually have Jonagold, but today was Golden Delicious, and they were still very good. (I can’t wait until my own apple trees are producing in a few years! We planted 2 Golden Delicious last year, and my Granny Smith and Fuji trees actually just arrived via mail today!)

Then I peel all my apples. This Pampered Chef peeler makes a world of difference! I throw them into my Instant Pot liner that already has 2 cups of water and 1/4 cup lemon juice in the bottom of it.

I keep peeling until it is almost full. (I had it too full here and had to take some out.) Occasionally, I may add some lemon juice on top to keep the apples from browning.

At this point, you can just put them in your Instant Pot plain and you’ll have regular applesauce. With my batches tonight, I added some brown sugar and cinnamon to taste. In the past, I’ve done honey instead of brown sugar. I eyeballed this, but there was probably 1/2 cup brown sugar and 2 TBSP of cinnamon.

Now you will put it in your Instant Pot and pressure cook it for 8 minutes. When it has finished cooking, you can let it naturally release or can release it yourself. Mine was kind of messy with one batch when I released it (my apples were way juicy), so I will probably let the next ones naturally release first. They will look like this when you open them.